Attitude dynamics of a compound solar sail
- Paper number
IAC-06-C1.1.08
- Author
Dr. Anna Guerman, University of Beira Interior, Portugal
- Coauthor
Prof. Georgi Smirnov, University of Porto, Portugal
- Year
2006
- Abstract
The use of solar pressure to create propulsion can minimize on-board energy consumption during a mission. Many projects of solar sails are now under development, making solar sail dynamics the subject of numerous studies.
So far, the most extensively studied problem is the orbital maneuver of a Flat Solar Sail (FSS). In this case, the control is performed by turning the entire sail surface with respect to the sun-sailcraft direction. This changes the radiation pressure and results in evolution of the vehicle trajectory.
The use of Solar Photon Thruster (SPT) was proposed long ago [1], but the study of this spacecraft began quite recently. The SPT consists of a parabolic surface which concentrates the solar radiation pressure on a system of smaller mirrors. The control effort in such system is produced by displacement of a small mirror with respect to the parabolic surface. The sail axis is supposed to be oriented along the sun-sailcraft direction.
In the present article, we examine attitude motion and stabilization of a parabolic compound sailcraft. We study two versions of the SPT scheme, Dual Reflector SPT (DR SPT) that includes a collimator and the Simple SPT (SSPT). Both schemes are described in [1]. Here we compare the feasibility of these two schemes.
Equations of orbital motion for ideal DR SPT were deduced in [1] and used in several studies to investigate trajectory control of this sailcraft. In [2] we developed a force-torque model for the SSPT supposing its ideal reflection properties, and compared it with an ideal FSS. Now we deduce the equations of trajectory and attitude motion for a non-ideal SPT sailcraft. We study its orbital behavior and the corresponding attitude dynamics. We analyze the possibility of SPT attitude stabilization.
[1] R.L. Forward, Solar photon thruster, J. Spacecraft, 27(4), 1990, 411- 416.
[2] A.D. Guerman, and G. Smirnov, Attitude Control of Solar Photon Thruster vs Plane Solar Sail, Advances in the Astronautical Sciences, 2006, 123, 2635 - 2648.
- Abstract document
- Manuscript document
IAC-06-C1.1.08.pdf (🔒 authorized access only).
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